Child support enforcement can have a negative effect on Black, low-income, non-custodial fathers and their children, according to a 2016 report from the Urban Institute.

Andrew Chase can testify to that.

Chase, 39, is a Chicago native; he was born and raised in the Windy City. He cut hair for years, trying to make a living for himself and his family. A battle with the mother of two of his children left him in a lengthy and losing battle over finances.

"We met when we were 15 years old," Chase told Southland Marquee. "We had our first daughter years later when I turned 28 years old. She put me on child support, and I couldn't get my barber's license because of child support. I graduated from Cain's Barber College with my certification. I went on to master my craft under two professional master barbers at Infiniti Styles Barbershop in Calumet City.

"I perfected my craft over a nine-year period until COVID hit. During the course of those years, I lost my driver's license and knew I could not obtain my barber's license, and it was discouraging. I would get caught by Chicago police going to and from work. My car would get taken, and I would have to pay a substantial [sic] large amount to get it out of the pound."

It was a very trying time, Chase said.

"I went back and forth to court with child support for about 12 years before she finally decided to take me off," he said. "During the course of that time, child support is a very big headache. They're more strict on the fathers than they are on the mothers. If you have trouble with the other parent to see your child or just to be [in] your child's life, I feel like it's just a one-sided thing.

"It's based on the money that the state can get. Not so much as the mom. Of course, the mom is going to get theirs, but the state be [sic] more concerned with what they can get out of the deal. And to me that is unfair because if you fall behind, they'll take your license, not knowing that that license is a means of making money to pay their child support."

While child support enforcement is intended to help custodial parents and their children, it can often have unintended consequences for non-custodial parents, according to The Urban Institute report. This is particularly true for people who are low-income and/or Black. The report cited several studies that found child support enforcement can lead to increased incarceration rates for non-custodial fathers. This can have negative effects on both the fathers and their children.

The report also noted that child support enforcement can create financial barriers for non-custodial fathers. This makes it more difficult for them to pay child support and maintain a relationship with their children. The report suggested that policymakers should focus on creating child support policies that are fair and equitable for both custodial and non-custodial parents.

Chase said he fell $10,000 behind on child support payments and penalties. He was supposed to pay $300 a month. The state suspended his barber license, which made it difficult for him to earn a living and pay it off. His bank accounts were frozen, as well.

"Yes, they'll freeze your bank account," he said. "They'll take everything you have if they can. You know, they didn't want to hear anything they didn't want to hear. All they wanted was my money, you know? And it's just unfair and unjust."

Chase thinks government officials need to consider the total picture, which includes people losing their jobs, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed several barbershops. They just wanted the money, he said.

"They don't care," he said.

Chase said he wanted to be in his daughters' lives, but their mother was trying to keep him out, largely out of spite.

"They don't care about that, even though it's supposed to be based around some type of parental rights," he said. "If you get your kids on a weekend or a holiday or the summer or spring break or holiday, it's not right. It's a one-sided deal and it's just unfair on the man, especially a father that is present, [who] wants to be present."

His fiscal nightmare finally ended when he had a long talk with the girls' mother. Their oldest daughter, now 13, was diagnosed with diabetes, and the woman was also burdened with issues with her relationship.

It gave her time to realize what she had put him through, Chase said.

"And, like I said, it wasn't about whether or not I would do it for my child and that it was just merely because she wanted things to be one way or because she could have her way," he said. "For a lot of women, child support is a way of getting back to [sic] the father. And she decided to come down and take me off child support — wipe away whatever fees that I had. So, I went through the proper procedure and went downtown and [had] everything wiped out."

They had a long talk and finally resolved their differences, Chase said.

"She said, 'And now I see now what they were doing to you, and I see what I was doing wrong,'" he said. "And she decided to take me off. Once she decided to take me off child support, I paid the state of Illinois a large amount of money in back pay to retrieve my license back."

He decided it was time for a change in career because barbershops were closing due to the pandemic.

"Soon after COVID hit, in February of 2020, I decided to pay my way through school to get my Class A CDL (commercial driver's license)," Chase said. "At that time, COVID shut down businesses and schools, and I had to find another means to get my CDL. I called around and found a company (KLLM Transport) out of Burns Harbor, Indiana. I had obtained my permit while at Progressive in Lansing, Illinois, before they shut down due to the pandemic, and I've been driving ever since."

Chase now lives in Georgia and is an over-the-road driver. He frequently returns to Chicago to see family — he has five children — and friends. Chase said he sometimes goes to his old barbershop so friends can style his hair. He has fond memories of his years cutting hair and said barbershops are important gathering places for the Black community.

"Well, it's the camaraderie," he said. "You know, Blacks come in, you know, black young men and ... women — they come in and get their haircuts and feel comfortable. They open up. It's a place where people sit down and talk. You know, the things that may bother you — you can come in the shop and you can laugh about them with other people because this is a place to let that tension go."

Chase said he is aware of other issues in his hometown.

Southland Marquee seeks to bring to light reports that city enforcement and fines related to ticketing (red light, parking, speeding, etc.) are unbalanced and continue to target certain communities more than others.

This issue was previously highlighted by investigative reports in 2018 but has begun to resurface. The aggressive ticketing and associated fines are of particular concern when the city suspends the business licenses of people unable to pay the fines, as reported by Block Club Chicago.

One local pastor called this a regressive policy that has negatively impacted communities of color.

"This is a regressive city policy that targets Black and brown communities, keeping them in a cycle of generational debt," Rev. Tyrone McGowan told Southland Marquee. "It primarily affects low-income Black households. Eight out of the 10 ZIP codes with the most ticket debt are Black ZIP codes. So, many people who are already struggling financially sink even further into debt as a result of this policy. Many go into bankruptcy, which is not an ideal solution, over something as simple as an unpaid ticket."

Chase agrees with this sentiment.

"I do think it's ridiculous because we have to pay for license plate stickers or window tags; we should not pay to park because those stickers alone are parking permits, basically," he said.

Chase also believes red-light cameras are not about traffic enforcement but are simply revenue generators for the city.

"Yes, that's exactly what it is," he said. "I mean, they basically told us when they said that they would install them that the city needed more money. But, I can't understand why the city needs more money when they're making money off taxes and they raise the taxes on us each year for different things."

He thinks ticketing enforcement disproportionately impacts Blacks or minorities.

"Yes, I do. Because I feel you shouldn't have to pay to live on your block. I believe if you own a house or a building or some type of property on that block that you're already paying taxes for, you should not have to pay to park in front of your home or your own business. It's sheer greed. It's greed on the city's behalf."

Chicago ticket debt piles up disproportionately in the city's low-income, mostly Black neighborhoods, ProPublica Illinois reported. Eight of the 10 ZIP codes with the most ticket debt per adult are in neighborhoods with a majority of Black residents, according to a ProPublica analysis of ticket data in Illinois since 2007 and figures from the U.S. Census. Chicago can boot and impound any vehicle that is in violation of parking policies. The city can also suspend a driver's license when the ticket is not paid after a certain amount of time.

Many Chicago residents are unable to pay the fines and fees associated with traffic and other minor offenses, NPR reported. This can result in their driver's licenses being suspended and additional penalties being imposed. The city will suspend a license if the vehicle owner has 10 unpaid parking tickets or five unpaid traffic camera tickets.

Chicago asked the state to suspend the licenses of more than 21,000 drivers in 2016, triple that of 2010, according to the city's finance department and as reported by ProPublica Illinois.

ProPublica reported on the negative impact of Chicago's aggressive ticketing regime. It is driven by hundreds of city cameras that generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the city. These cameras have disproportionately affected motorists in Black and Latino neighborhoods. A ProPublica analysis showed that households in ZIP codes with a majority of Black and Hispanic residents received tickets at a rate of approximately twice that of households in white areas between 2015 and 2019.